Last August, having spent the summer drifting in my MK2 Escort, I decided that I wanted to build something different for 2015. I bought the Escort in 2011 with the plan of restoring it into a nice road car but as the car was getting near to hitting the road I discovered drifting and that’s where the plan changed. By the time I sold it on it was an all out drift car designed for track use only.

It was modified from front to back and handled like nothing else, for a little car with a basic setup it could hang in with some big budget cars. I said I would never sell it, it had given me a new passion and purpose in life but I knew it was the only way I could build something new. It was really hard to hand over and felt like giving away one of my kids but that was that.

I had always wanted to build a hot rod/rat rod, I think they are so much more unique and personal. There are very few cars that I’m really passionate about but I could show you a fair few rods that float my boat.

I was having a good time doing drift demos for various car shows so decided I wanted to stick to doing that instead of competing, this meant I was able to go ahead and build something without sticking to any rulebooks. The plan was I could do both, build a rod and go drifting, I just had to build a Rod that could drift.

I started searching for a shell and one turned up about 100 yards down the road from my workshop. It was a 1953 Ford Anglia Hot Rod which had been cut up and used to repair another crashed Rod. It had no floors, no rear end and no bulk head but it did have a roof chop and was perfect for what I wanted it for, and for £200 my budget build was starting off on the right foot.